drive-in
by not a straight trumpet
Summary: Kumiko and Reina make plans and have some realizations in the process.


**a/n:** this fic is best experienced while listening to where i found you by gio navas, which is a beautiful song that has made me cry basically every time i've listened to it

* * *

"Kumiko-chan! Hey, hey, Kumiko!" Hazuki was practically vibrating as she held out a flyer - Kumiko couldn't even read what it said. "Look at this!"

"'Drive-in movie?'" Hazuki nodded eagerly.

"They're hosting it here next week - I guess it's to raise money or something! Anyway, they're playing a really cute old movie on the side of the building and it looks like it could be a lot of fun!"

"I'll think about it."

"Why, is there something wrong?" Hazuki blinked inquisitively, holding the flyer to her chest. Kumiko took a moment to collect her thoughts.

"W-well, isn't this sort of something for . . . couples? I mean, I'd love t-to see it with you and Midori-chan and . . . Reina, but . . ."

"The whole school's gonna be there!" Hazuki added, unhelpfully.

"Yeah, that's kind of the problem."

"D'you mean because of Tsukamoto?" Kumiko let out a long, airy sigh before she answered.

"Yeah," she lied.

"Oh, I get that! I dunno if he's coming, though. I haven't really seen him around much."

"Right."

"Listen, if something's wrong, you don't have to go. I was just figuring it could be a fun thing, but it's fine if you stay home! I can go with Midori-chan and Natsuki-senpai without a problem." Kumiko blinked.

"Maybe I _should_ come, then."

"Why?"

"I'd feel bad if I left poor Midori to third-wheel you two all by yourselves." _Crap. I said that out loud._ Hazuki didn't seem to get it, shrugging innocently.

"Well, call me if you end up coming to it after all!" Kumiko watched as she sauntered away, humming a tune to herself.

"What was she talking about?" Kumiko let out a soft _yeek!_ before turning around to see Reina standing behind her.

"Oh, uh, there's this movie night thing the school's hosting, I think they're projecting a rom-com onto the side of the building or something?" Reina didn't make any move to respond - didn't move at all, really, remaining rooted to her spot like the statue out front with its birds perpetually frozen in mid-flight.

"That sounds . . . fun, actually."

"Really?"

"I don't see why not. We should take advantage of these sorts of things when we can, Kumiko."

"B-because we're still kids, right?"

"Actually, it's because the sun goes down earlier this time of year, but that, too." Reina stared up at the rainy sky outside, avoiding Kumiko's gaze. "The weather's supposed to clear up by then."

"It's a date, then?" Reina smiled.

"It's a date."

* * *

 _one week later_

The weather had not cleared up. Kumiko stared out the classroom window with a groan, the gray rain pelting down on the glass until all she could see was a blurry, rain-streaked version of Kitauji's courtyard.

"Do you think it'll let up by tonight?" Hazuki wondered, idly swinging her legs as she balanced a pencil on her finger.

"I don't know."

"I hope so. Natsuki-senpai said she'd drive us as long as we paid for popcorn, and I said yes because, I mean, what else do you say when Natsuki-senpai offers you something, so I'm gonna be disappointed if it gets rained out."

"I guess they'll probably reschedule it if that happens." Kumiko looked out the window again.

"I wanted to see it _tonight,_ though!" Hazuki groaned. "Didn't you?" Kumiko thought back to Reina's distant expression, the way she seemed so tightly wound, her stock-still position.

"Y-yeah." The teacher chattered on until the words faded into nonsense, just extra sound against the rain. "I did."

* * *

 **Reina: They haven't sent out any kind of message canceling the event.**

 **Reina: Should we still go?**

Kumiko blinked, peering at the phone and then out her window, where trees waved in the wind like dancers at a party.

 **Kumiko: it's pretty rainy out there**

 **Kumiko: idk**

 **Kumiko: do /you/ still want to go?'**

 **Reina: I won't die if we stay home, but it did seem . . .**

 **Reina: Nice.**

Kumiko thought of Reina's demeanor again, the way she always carried herself so highly as if she were a princess long resigned to her eventual queendom. She thought, then, of Hazuki and the way she'd acted so eager at the idea.

 **Kumiko: take the train**

 **Kumiko: i'll meet you there**

* * *

The rain had lightened up just a bit by the time she reached Kitauji's campus, nearly drenched despite the flimsy umbrella held tightly in her hands.

"H-hello?" she called. Mist swirled around the ground, casting the pavement in an eerie glow, like something out of a horror movie. "Reina? Hazuki-chan? Natsuki?" She wanted, desperately, to see the stars. "Anyone?"

"Kumiko! Kumiko, is that you?" a voice called out. Kumiko was certain, for a moment, that she was about to die, when a shadowy figure glided across the walkway, features hidden.

"Who's there?"

"Who else would it be?" The figure stepped closer, and Kumiko could've laughed with sheer relief when she saw Reina, a black skirt billowing around her knees. "I think we're the only ones here."

"Yeah, the weather's still pretty bad." As if to prove her point, a clap of thunder sounded behind her. Reina jumped.

"We should go inside. It's safer."

Kumiko didn't object when Reina pulled her along, towards the campus building where she'd spent so many of her days, now surrounded by clouds.

"We should go home when it lets up. I could take you to my house - my parents bought a new sound system. We could have a movie night of our own."

"Yeah."

"It _was_ a nice thought, though, wasn't it?" Reina gripped the ledge of a windowsill so tightly that Kumiko feared it'd snap and fall off. "Just . . . one night, like the characters in the books. One night where we'd watch a movie in someone's dingy car, and forget everything. I suppose that's just a dream, though, isn't it?" Reina laughed humorlessly, water still dripping from her skirt. "It was never going to happen."

"I wanted it to happen, too," Kumiko admitted. Reina eyed her suspiciously.

"You did?"

"W-well, yeah! I mean, we're only in high school for a few years. Someone I used to really look up to told me that it goes by in a flash. I know it sounds dumb, but it's true, y'know?"

"I understand."

"I j-just . . . I don't get why it's all moving so _fast,_ and . . ." Kumiko couldn't finish her sentence before sniffles overtook her, and if she could see anything through her watery eyes, it would've been Reina, struck down with a similar expression. "These things aren't going the way I wanted them to, Reina." Silence dangled in the air, humidity thickening the feeling, until Reina broke it with a tiny whisper.

"I'm scared."

She wasn't talking about the storm.

"I'm scared too, Reina." _Reina, Reina, Reina._ The name, grounding Kumiko to this room, this world, was all she could hear in her head. Reina scooted closer, no longer carrying herself with the usual bravery she usually did. The masks had been ripped away, no good-girl skins to be seen. Kumiko stopped caring, in that moment, if Reina saw her weakened like this, and she let the tears fall to the chairs and the floor until they were all but mixed with the rainwater.

"I don't know what we're going to do when it's all over," Reina whimpered, holding Kumiko tightly by the fabric of her uniform, as if she'd fall away if she let go. "I don't know about the future, or growing up, or _anything._ I'm just . . . I'm just blundering through all of this."

"It's all so _big,_ Reina. W-what if we never see each other again? What if we just end up forgetting about each other? Asuka-senpai's already gone, Natsuki's on her way out, and I don't want to . . . to lose you, Reina."

"It'd be a shame, wouldn't it?" Reina wiped her tears away on her sleeves. "Losing each other, after everything we've been through."

"I don't want it to happen."

"I don't, either." Both girls were still freezing cold from the rain, clothes stuck to their bodies and their skin damp, but Kumiko leaned into Reina nonetheless. "You're terrible, Kumiko, really."

"What?"

"You're so, so terrible," Reina repeated, but there was no malice in her words, just as there had never been any malice in them to begin with. She was trembling, now, but so was Kumiko. "Here I am, trapped in a rainstorm because we wanted to see a movie together, when I should be at home, practicing."

"We'll be okay."

"This storm isn't letting up, is it?" Kumiko looked out the window again, where the gray-green sky wailed its laments.

"I guess not."

"We'll be trapped here for a while longer."

"Yeah."

"Perhaps that isn't such a bad thing." Reina kept her eyes trained on Kumiko, her brilliant violet gaze still seeming to pierce into her very bones. "It'll give us time, anyhow." Kumiko nodded, and she kept Reina's hand tightened around her own.

Hardly a moment passed, however, before someone banged on the door, and Kumiko whipped around so quickly that she could feel her neck creak in protest.

"Hey! Kumiko! Kousaka! I found ya!" Natsuki stumbled through the doorway with a folded rainbow umbrella in her hand, eyes bright. "I was gonna send out a search party. You're pretty crappy at answering your texts, y'know that?" Kumiko sheepishly looked at her phone, where message after message lined the screen. "Katou-chan! I found 'em!"

"You don't have to talk like they're dogs, Natsuki-senpai." Hazuki popped her head through, and she was quickly followed by Midori. "I'm glad you two got out of that storm okay, though. It's pretty bad out there."

"We were fine." Kumiko cast a meaningful glance at Reina, whose eyes shone at the sight when Natsuki plopped herself down on the carpeted floor. "Still, it's r-really nice that you're here."

"Hey, what else are friends for? Oh, and I brought movies!" Natsuki dug around in her bag until she pulled out a set of battered DVDs with a grin. "They're not to everyone's taste, I guess, but there's a projector in the room, so I figured . . ."

"It's perfect." Kumiko hoped that Natsuki would blame it on the rain when her eyes started to water, the projector's whirring and Hazuki's eager chirps drowning out the water outside. Here, she realized, it was safe. Here, things were okay, and as she leaned against Reina with her gaze on the glowing screen, she didn't think of time or the future at all.

* * *

 **a/n:** so, uh, sorta important announcement to make? i'm taking a semi-hiatus from kumirei - that is to say i won't be uploading fics about them quite as often until i get more inspiration, so that i don't burn myself out before the movies. i can't express how much these gals mean to me, i love them so, so much and i love all of you for being such wonderful readers. thank you.


End file.
